Package-dispensing apparatus



w. P. DUN LA NY; I PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS.

' 1,356,345; y Pat nted Oct. 19,1920.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22, 1917.

- 5 SHEEISSHEET I.

W P. DUN LANY. PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS.

' APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22. 19!]. 1,856,345, Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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W. P. DUN LANY.

' PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV,2Z, I91]. 7

'Pafinmed.Oct 19,1920.

1 w W a W. P. DUN LANY. PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22, 19H. 1,356,345, Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4. I 24 60 7 7;

Z5 Z7 a I I I I I I W. P. D UN LANY. PACKAGE DISPENSING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22, 191?. 1,356,345. Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

7 i f I I 2 Eli? UNETED STATES- PATENT orrics.

WILLIAM E". DUN LAN'Y, F OAK PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN CANCOMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PACKAGE-DISPENSING APPARATUS.

(Driginal application filed December improvement in Package-Dispensing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in package dispensing apparatusand is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 808,099, filedDecember 22, 1913.

The invention is hereinafter described in connection with acoin-controlled vending machine so arranged that the packages may bedispensed from any one of a plurality of reservoirs by the meredepositing of a coin in a slot common to all of them.

The invention has for a principal object the provision of means forautomatically indicating whether or not each of the reservoirs has anyackages therein or is empty.

A further 0 ject of the invention is the improvement in the constructionand arrangement oi the parts of such devices and a general cheapening ofmanufacture, substantially all of the parts being formedcf sheet metal.

A. still further object of the invention is the provision of suchapparatus adapted for use as a coin-vending machine and as suchpreventing the discharge of'a package when a coin or the wrong size ordenomination or a slug is introduced into the machine.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will he a parent as it isbetter understood from the following description when consideredinconnection with the accompanying drawing illustrating a pre terredembodiment thereof.

(In the drawing.-

Figure l is a side elevation of a vending machine embodying myimprovements;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig.

Fig. 4- is a similar section taken on the line a e of Fig. 5., Figs. 3and 4: being upon enlarged scales;

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented Oct. 19, 1920.

22, 1913, Serial No. 808,099. Divided and this application filedNovember 22, 1917. Serial no. ceases.

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional View taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5;

Figs. 7 and 8 are detail sectional views showing the operating key andassociated mechanism, Fig. 7 showing the parts in normal position andFig. 8 showing the parts after one of the keys has been operated and apackage about to be discharged;

Fig. 9 is a detail vertical section taken sugstantially on the line 9-9of Fig. 4; an

Figs. 10 and 11 are detail views of two of i the parts.

In saiddrawing, the vending machine is shown as having a base on whichis mounted an outer shell or casing 21, the latter, in its front face,having a coin-receiving slot 22 and a window 23. Within the outsidecasing. are fourspaced, vertical extending rectangular reservoirs 2a inwhich are adapted to be stored the packages of peppermint or othercondiment to be dispensed, such packages being indicated in dotted linesin Fig. 5 at 25 and in full in Figs. '2' and. 8. The packages from allthe reservoirs are discharged onto an inclined floor 26. see Fig. 8 andare taken from the machine through the opening 27 in the frontface-thereof.

inside the casing to'the rear of the coinreceiving slot 22 is pivotallymounted a coinreceiving chute 28, the same being pivoted on a fined rodor pin 29. The upper wall of the chute 98 is recessed as indicated at30, 30 in Fig. 19 and in normal position the ends of a horseshoe magnet31 project slightly therethrough, the magnet acting to hold any sing orpiece of metal acted upon by magnetism. Nickels, for which this n1achineis primarily adapted to be operated by, are of course, not aliccted bythe magnet and pass readily thereby. A nickel having been forced throughthe slot 22 will fall down the chute 98 and come to rest in the taperedbottom thereof as indicated at 82 in Fig 6. the chute being cut away onits under face as at 33. Projecting slightly into the recess termed hythe cut away portion of the chute is the upper end 34 of a lever 35pivoted on a stationary pin 36, said lever eing held in normal positionby a leaf spring 37 Pivoted in the upper part of the casing and near thecenter thereof, is a pivoted member 38 having a slot 39 therein in whichoperates a pin 40 secured to the pivoted coin chute 28. At its outerend, the member 38 is also pivotally connected to a verticallyreciprocating rod 41, the latter being slotted as at 42 to provideclearance for the pivot 29. The rod 41 is notched as indicated at 43 and44, the notch 43 being longer than the notch 44, for a purposeherein'after specified. Normally positioned in the slot 43, is a lug 45formed integrally with the lever 35 and within the notch 44 normallyprojects another lug 46 formed integrally with the lever 35 at its lowerend, it being noted that the lug 46 is closer to the shoulder 47 formedat the top of the slot 44 than is the lug 45 to the correspondingshoulder 48. The rod 41 is held in its uppermost or normal position by aspring 49 secured to the top thereof and to a stationary part of thecasing. As will be understood, the foregoing described mechanism islocated centrally of the machine between two of the reservoirs, see Fig.4.-

For each reservoir, the number of which may be increased or' decreasedas. desired, there is a pivoted operating lever or key 50, each of whichis provided with a finger piece or button 51 which projects out throughthe casing and which is pressed by the operator when a coin has beenplaced in the machine. Each pivoted lever has detachably and pivotallyconnected therewith a yoke 52, the arms of which extend around the wallsof the reservoir with which it is'associated and the rear piece 53 ofwhich engages in slots 54 formed in the side walls of a pivoted trapdoor 55, the rear member 53 of the yoke forming a detachable pivotalconnection therewith. Each trap door 55 is normally in the positionshown in Fig. 7 and is so held by a pair of sprin s 56. When the lever50 is depressed to its full amount, the yoke 52 will be pulled forward,thereby tilting the trap door to the inclined position shown in Fig. 8and dumping a package 25 onto the inclined floor 26. Each pivoted lever50 is connected to'its associated yoke 52 by a spring 83 to preventparts becoming sepa rated and, as will be understood, when a trap door55 is returned to, normal position, it will retract the yoke therewithand the latter in turn will move the lever or key 50 to its normalposition, the latter being stopped by a rearwardly and downwardlyprojecting lug 57 which engages a horizontal partition 58, the latterhaving suitable openings therein through which the trap doors aremovable to deliver the packages.

Common to all of the operating levers or keys 50, is a pivotally mountedU-shaped bar 59, the latter being suspended on a transversely extendingrod 60. The bar 59 is operated by each and all of the keys, whenever oneof the latter is depressed to its full extent, by upwardly extendinglugs 61 on each key. Also pivotally mounted on the rod 60, and near thecenter of the machine, is a bell crank lever 62, the depending army ofwhich is engaged by said U-shaped bar 59, see Fig. 5. The other arm ofsaid bell crank lever is pivotally connected as at 63, to the lower endof the bar 41 and by which the latter is operated.

The operation of the parts so far described is as follows: When a nickelis dropped into the chute 28, it will come to rest at the pointindicated at Fig. 6 and will be engaged by the upper end of the lever35. When one of the operating levers 50 is depressed, it will swing thebar 59 forwardly and the latter in turn will swing the bell crank 62which causes a downward movement of the bar 41. The downward movement ofthe bar 41 causes the member 38 to swing about its pivot and the pivotedchute 28 will be thereby swung about its pivot 29, the pin 40 operatingin the slot 39. The coin in the chute will be prevented from rearwardmovement as the chute is swung about its pivot and the lever 35 will bethereby swung about the pivot 36 against the action of the spring 37.This movement causes the projection 46 to be withdrawn from the slot 44and the downward movement of the bar 41 will be unobstructed until theshoulder 48 engages with the lug 45 and thereby releases the coin, sincethe lever 35 will ;be moved from engagement therewith. The coin beingthus released, will fall and be deflected by the partition 64 past theglass window 65 against another partition 66 and by the latter will beguided through an opening 67 into the coin-receiving chamber 68.Normally there is a spring-controlled pivoted trap door 69 to hold a badcoin in front of the window 65 but when a good coin has been placed inthe chute, the downward movement of the rod 41 will open the trap door69 by means of a shoulder 70 which engages the trap door and opens it.The foregoing described operation will permit the operating lever or key50 to be swung downwardly to its full extent, as shown in Fig. 8, whichin turn will cause a tilting of the trap door 55 and discharge a packageas hereinbefore described. In case a cent or a dime is inserted throughthe slot into the coin chute 28, it will fall through the chute and willnot be held at the lower end thereof and will be deposited upon the trapdoor 69 in back of the window 65. In the event of a slug or piece ofmetal which is acted upon by magnetism, being put on the bar 41 willengage the lug didand be prevented from further movement. This in I turnprevents a complete depression of the operating lever 50 andconsequently the trap door 55 will not be tilted and no package will bedischarged. When a slug has been caught by the magnet 31, the slightinitial movement allowed the pivoted coin chute 28, will strip the slugfrom the magnet and allow it to pass down the chute and the slug willfall through the opening in the bottom thereof and be deposited on thetrap door 69 in back of the window 65. In this way, the operator can seeif he has inserted a coin of the wrong size or if he has inserted a slugand operation of the machine will be prevented except in the cases wherethe.

proper coin has been used. In order to prevent the simultaneousoperation of two or more operating levers or keys when a nickel has beeninserted in the machine, I provide aplurality of loosely andindependently slidable bars 71,- see Fig. 9. These bars are mounted inslotted tangs 72 struck up from the horizontal partition 58. Each of thebars 71 is beveled at its ends, as shown at 7 3, and their lengths are.

so proportioned that the beveled ends thereof are normally positionedbeneath the keys 50. The end keys project slightly below the tops of theend bars 71 so that the latter cannot be pushed out therebeyond. When anend key is depressed, all the bars'71 will be slid along until the barat the opposite end comes into engagement with the key at.

that end and just enough clearness will be provided to permit the keybeing operated to pass by the end of the bar 71 adjacent thereto. Whenan intermediate key is depressed, the bars will be separated until theand members thereof come into engagement with the end keys and clearnesswill be thereby provided for the passage ot the key being operated uponbetween the ends of the bars 71 adjacent thereto. In this way, it willbe seen that only one key at a time may be depressed since there is onlyclearance enough "for one key at a time. In front of each reservoirthere is pivotally mounted an indicator 74, said indicators beingmounted on a transversely extending rod 7 5. Each indicator is providedwith a depending projection 76 which normally projects into the path ofthe packages 25 and the indicator thereby held in the position shown inFig. 7. Each indicator is inscribed with the word Empty and with thename of the condiment being. vended, the indications being arranged asshown in Fig. 11. When there are packages in the reservoir, theindicator will be held, as shown in Fig. 7, with the name (peppermint)opposite a window 77. When, however, no packages are in thecorresponding reservoir, the indicator will fall by gravity and theinscription Empty 'w1ll appear before the window 77. In this way, thepurchaser is apprised of the fact that the reservoir corresponding tothe key which he wishes to operate contains packages or is empty.

In order to prevent more than one package being discharged at a timefrom any reservoir, there is provided a plurality of spring-controlleddetents 78, one for eachreservoir. Each detent 78 has a projection 79thereon which works through a slot 80 in the rear wall of the reservoir,said projection 79 being normally held from engagement with the packagesin the reservoir by the rear arm 53 of the corresponding yoke 52, thenormal position of the detent 8 being. as shown in Fig. 7. When a key 50is depressed and the trap door 55 tilted therewith, the yoke 52 will bemoved from engagement with the detent 78 and the projection 79 on thelatter will engage the lowermost package remaining in the reservoir asshown in Fig. 8. At the same time, the depending lug 76 of the indicator7 1 will engage the lower front corner of the lower- .most packageremaining in the reservoir and the package will thus be frictionallyheld by the detent 79 and the lug 76. In order to prevent tampering withthe mechanism or removal of a coin after the same has been insertedthrough the coin slot, the bar 41 is provided with a projection 81, seeFig. 5, which covers the slot 22 when the bar a1 is pulled downwardlyFrom the preceding description it will be seen that I have provided avending machine of relatively few parts and simple arrangement, and sodesigned that the majority of the parts may be formed from stamped sheetmetal.

I have herein shown and described my improvements as adapted for vendingpackages of peppermint but, as will be understood, the machine may bereadily adapted for dispensing other styles of packages. It is alsoevident that the number of reservoirs may be increased or decreased byeither duplicating or omitting the keys and directly associated partstherewith for each reservoir. And although I have herein shown anddescribed in detail what I now consider the preferred embodiment of myimprovements, yet changes and modifications other than those hereinsuggested may be made without departing from the spirit lit) of myinvention and all such changes and modifications are contemplated ascome within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. The combination of a single coin-controlled mechanism, a plurality ofreservoirs, a reservoir-operating key for each reservoir, a transversebar controlled by said mechanism and controlling each key, a tiltingbottom for each reservoir, means operated by said bottom for sustainingand releasing the next to the bottom article in the reservoir, meanswhereby each key may operate the bottom of its reservoir, and meanswhereby the operation of any key locks the other keys against operation.

2. The combination of a single coin-controlled mechanism, a plurality ofreservoirs, a reservoir-operating key for each reservoir, a transverseshaft controlled by said mechanism, means whereby each key is controlledby said shaft, a tilting bottom for each reservoir, means operated bysaid bottom for sustaining and releasing the next to the bottom articlein the reservoir, means whereby each key may operate the bottom of itsreservoir, and means preventing the operation of two keyssimultaneously.

3. The combination of a single coin-controlled mechanism a plurality ofreservoirs, a reservoir-operating key for each reservoir, a transverseshaft controlled by said mechanism, means whereby each key is controlledby said shaft, a tilting bottom for each reservoir, means operatedbysaid bottom for sustaining and releasing the next to the bottomarticle in the reservoir, means whereby each key may operate the bottomof its reservoir, and means whereby the operation of any key locks theother keys against operation.

4. The combination of a single coin-controlled mechanism, a plurality ofreservoirs, a reservoir-operating key for each reservoir, a transverseshaft controlled by said mechanism, a transverse bar swingable with saidshaft and controlling each key, a tilting bottom for each reservoir,means operated by said bottom for sustaining and releasing the next tothe bottom article in thereservoir, means whereby each keymay operatethe bottom of its reservoir, and means whereby the operation of any keylocks the other keys against operation.

5- The combination of coin-controlled mechanism, key levers, atransverse bar connected with said mechanism and controlling each keylever and movable when said mechanism has been released, a plurality ofreservoirs arranged along said bar at the rear thereof, depressible keylevers one for each compartment, a tiltable floor for each reservoir,means connecting 1 said floors with their "respective key levers, aforwardly one key lever locks each against operation.

spring-pressed detent for each reservoir adapted to bear against thenext to the lowermost article in the reservoir, means whereby saiddetent is released from the article when the fioor is in closedposition, a front detaining element for each reservoir, and meanswhereby the operation of other key lever 6. The combination ofcoin-controlled mechanism, finger keys, a transverse bar connected withsaid mechanism and controlling each key and movable when said mechanismhas been released, a plurality of reservoirs arranged along said bar atthe rear thereof, depressible keys one for each compartment, a tiltablefloor for each reservoir, means connecting said floors with theirrespective keys, a forwardly spring-pressed detent for each reservoiradapted to bear against the next to the lowermost article in thereservoir, means whereby said detent is released from the article whenthe floor is in closed position, a front-forwardly and rearwardlymovable detaining element for each reservoir, and means whereby theoperation of one key locks each other key against operation.

7, The combination of coin-controlled mechanism, key levers, atransverse bar connected with said mechanism and controlling each keylever and movable when said mechanism has been released, a plurality ofreservoirs arranged along said bar at the rear thereof, depressible keylevers one for each compartment, a tiltable floor for each reservoir,means connecting said floors with their -respective key levers, aforwardly spring-pressed detent for each reservoir adapted to bearagainst the next to the lowermost article in the reservoir, meanswhereby said detent is released from the article when the floor is in afront detaining element for each reservoir, a lever for each reservoirhaving .at its inner end said front detaining element and at its outerend an indicator arm which embraces closed position,"

and is stopped by said transverse bar, and

having an intermediate supportingrpivot, and means whereby the operationo-f'one key lever locks each other key lever against operation.

8. The combination of coin-controlled mechanism, a transverse rockjsh'aft connected therewith, and movable when said mechanism has beenreleased, a plurality of reservoirs arranged along said shaft at therear thereof, depressible key levers one for each compartment, means bywhich each key lever is controlled by, said rock shaft, a tiljtablefloor for each reservoir, means connecting saidfloors with theirrespective key levers, a forwardly spring-pressed detent for eachreservoir adapted to bear against the next to the lowermost article inthe reservoir, means whereby said dctent is releasedfrom the articlewhen the floor is in closed position,- a front detaining element foreach reservoir, a lever for each reservoir having at its inner endlsaidfront detaining element and at its outer end an indicator arm whichembraces and is stopped by said transverse rock shaft, and having anintermediate supporting pivot and means whereby the operation of one key10 lever locks each other key lever against operation.

Signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM P. DUN LANY. Witnesses:

L. E. Wonenun'rn, G. P. Lnnnmz.

